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Alex Kurtzman
|birthplace = Los Angeles, California, USA |roles = Writer, producer |}} Alex Kurtzman is a producer, screenwriter and director who co-wrote the script for and executive produced the film , along with writing partner Roberto Orci. Kurtzman and Orci later produced and (along with Damon Lindelof) wrote the screenplay for the sequel, . 13&cs 1}} Kurtzman did not return to work on . In , Kurtzman and Orci were nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Writing for Star Trek. Kurtzman served as executive producer on , which he co-created with Bryan Fuller, and on . He wrote the story for (with Fuller), and wrote and (with Jenny Lumet and Michelle Paradise). He also wrote the Short Treks episode , with Lumet, and directed the Discovery episode . Kurtzman was made the lead showrunner halfway through the show's second season, replacing Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts. Reportedly, Kurtzman will oversee a five year Star Trek expanded universe deal with CBS All Access with various series, both live action and animated. The potential shows are said to include a series set at Starfleet Academy, a limited series (plot unknown), a limited series based around , and an animated series (plot unknown). A separate report indicated that another series (or potentially one of the prior listed series) would involve a Jean-Luc Picard series, with Patrick Stewart reprising the role. The series was confirmed in a joint appearance by Kurtzman and Stewart on at Las Vegas. Kurtzman and Orci also conceived the story for the Star Trek: Countdown comic miniseries which served as a prequel for the 2009 film. It was followed by the tie-in miniseries Star Trek: Nero, which they also received story credit for. Kurtzman also consulted on the video game. As Discovery showrunner, Kurtzman has been nominated twice for the fan-driven Dragon Award in 2018 and 2019, shared on both occasions with colleague Bryan Fuller, neither of which won though. Career Kurtzman and Orci previously were writers and co-executive producers on television's popular Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, which led to them becoming writers and co-executive producers for Xena: Warrior Princess. They also worked on Jack Of All Trades with Bruce Campbell. Kurtzman and Orci have been working with Star Trek producer and director J.J. Abrams for years, having written the 2006 Paramount Pictures film Mission: Impossible III and several episodes of Alias. They also wrote the screenplays for the 2005 film The Legend of Zorro (featuring Mary Crosby, with editing by Stuart Baird and music by James Horner) and the films The Island (2005, which featured Ethan Phillips, Glenn Morshower, and Randy Oglesby) and Transformers (2007, featuring Andy Milder, Glenn Morshower, W. Morgan Sheppard, Michael Shamus Wiles, and the voice of Robert Foxworth), and its sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009, featuring the voices of Tony Todd and Robert Foxworth). They did the final re-write of the screenplay for the film adaptation of the DC Comics graphic novel Watchmen, which stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Stephen McHattie, and Matt Frewer. com_content&task view&id 3379&Itemid 99}} They also developed the science fiction/horror series Fringe with J.J. Abrams, which they executive produce with Abrams and Bryan Burk. 14&cs 1}} In 2010, the Transformers: Prime animated series, executive produced by Kurtzman and Orci, started airing on the Hub; the show features the vocal talents of Tania Gunadi, James Horan, Jeffrey Combs, Frank Welker, Tony Todd, Clancy Brown, Nolan North, and Dwayne Johnson. Kurtzman and Orci were currently set to work on a film adaptation of Whitley Strieber's novel 2012: The War for Souls, which will re-team them with director Michael Bay. They are also the writers of the upcoming political thriller The 28th Amendment, which is set to star and . Orci and Kurtzman wrote the script for this movie in the late 1990s. They re-wrote the script in 2008, which is now in production at Warner Bros. Pictures. In addition to writing, Orci and Kurtzman also produced films through their production company, Kurtzman/Orci (aka K/O Paper Products, reflecting the partnership's origins as script writers). Some of the films being produced by K/O include 2008's Eagle Eye and the 2009 romantic comedy The Proposal. They also produce the remake of Hawaii Five-O, which stars Daniel Dae Kim as Chin Ho Kelly, with guest appearances by William Sadler and Sidney Liufau. In 2012, Kurtzman released his directorial debut, People Like Us, starring Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks. In 2017, he produced/directed The Mummy, which starred Sofia Boutella, his first major theatrical film project without Roberto Orci. Virtually joined at the hip for over two decades and once considered one of Hollywood's most successful production duos, the Kurtzman/Orci partnership started to dissolve from 2014 onward for otherwise undisclosed reasons, though Kurtzman later went on record, stating, "We grew in different directions. The kinds of stories we wanted to tell changed. We have such deep love and respect for each other that neither of us wanted to pull in the wrong direction." On 22 April 2014 it was announced that the two men would no longer collaborate on feature film productions, whereas their collaboration on television productions was definitively terminated in 2016, though they finished up on two series they started together, Sleepy Hollow (2013-2017) and Scorpion (2014-2018), whereas a third one, Hawaii Five-0 (2010-), is as of 2019 still running. The 2014 split had already forced Kurtzman to incorporate his own production company in August of the same year, Secret Hideout, under which he presently produces the Star Trek television properties for CBS All Access. For film projects, Kurtzman still operates under K/O Paper Products, reorganized after the departure of Orci. One such project was the by him directed and produced reboot of The Mummy (2017). Orci has withdrawn from not only K/O, but from all film projects he and Kurtzman were originally slated to work upon together as well. Kurtzman currently lives in Santa Monica, California with his wife, Samantha Kurtzman-Counter, and their son, Jack. ''Star Trek'' appearances * * Directing credits * Writing credits * (with Roberto Orci) * (with Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof) * ** (story with Bryan Fuller) ** (with Michelle Paradise and Jenny Lumet) ** (with Michelle Paradise and Jenny Lumet) * (with Jenny Lumet) * (with Michael Chabon and Kirsten Beyer) External links * * * 1&_r 3|Orci and Kurtzman|nytimes.com|New York Times}} * de:Alex Kurtzman es:Alex Kurtzman fr:Alex Kurtzman Category:Writers Category:Producers Category:Directors Category:Video game production staff Category:Hugo Award nominees Category:Dragon Award nominees Category:Saturn Award nominees Category:Saturn Award winners Category:Scream Award nominees Category:Writers Guild of America Award nominees Category:After Trek guests Category:The Ready Room guests